The neonatal period is the most delicate period in human existence during which neonates are highly vulnerable to diseases and death. The frequency and methods of bathing the newborn can expose them to hypothermia, thus increasing the risk of illness and death. The study investigated the practices of bathing the newborn among mothers in Ekiti state. Descriptive design was adopted for the study, 294 postnatal mothers who were selected via purposive sampling technique served as the sample in the study. Self-designed questionnaire that has scaled through validity and reliability test was used for data collection. Analysis of data was done using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The age of these mothers ranged between 16 and 45 with the mean age of 28.36 years, SD= 6.313. Overall, 110 (37.4%) bathed their newborns before the first 24 hours of life frequency of subsequent bathing of the baby, 146 (49.7%) mothers bathed babies once daily, while 144 (49%) mothers bathed their babies twice daily and the remaining 4 (1.4%) mothers bathed three times daily while majority spend a lot of time on baby bathing practicing some cultural rituals. It was concluded that bathing the baby is a process that has the tendency to expose the newborn to hypothermia.

Keywords: Hypothermia, Neonate, Bathing, Mothers,

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